Meloni encourages abstention in a referendum to facilitate obtaining citizenship

RomeThe Olympics held last summer in Paris ended with a historic success for Italian athletes, who returned home with more than 40 medals. One of them was Paola Egonu, the star of the women's volleyball team. Applauded for her sporting achievements, her skin color became a source of national debate after Roberto Vanacci, number two in Matteo Salvini's League, questioned the Olympic champion's "Italianness." "Her physical features do not represent the majority of Italians," the former army general also said.

Paola Egonu's parents left Nigeria to settle in Italy many years before the athlete was born 26 years ago in a small town in Padua. Despite his strong accent, typical of the Veneto region, and having always lived in the country, Egonu only obtained citizenship a few years ago, because in Italy, children of foreign parents must wait until they reach the age of majority to apply for it. Bureaucratic procedures that, in the best of cases, can take up to three more years.

The issue of citizenship is a debate that reopens every so often in Italy, especially because the children and grandchildren of Italian emigrants, on the other hand, can obtain it almost automatically even if they have never lived in their ancestors' country of origin. Thus, for example, many well-known figures of Italian descent have been able to acquire citizenship, including the President of Argentina, Javier Milei.

But things are even worse for foreign citizens living legally in Italy, who must wait at least 10 years to apply for it, one of the longest periods among EU countries. A waiting period to which at least two more years are added from the date the application is submitted, and which can be extended to five.

And it is precisely to change this last obstacle in the endless, almost Olympic race that the application for Italian citizenship for foreigners has become, that last year a popular initiative calling for a referendum to change the citizenship law and grant nationality to migrants with the highest 500,000 signatures necessary to move forward. Reducing the residency requirement to five years could indirectly simplify the process for many minors born in Italy to non-Italian parents, who are more than one million children, according to Istat.

At the polls

This Sunday and Monday, the polls will open for Italians to finally vote on the minimum residency period and four other issues related to the labor reform approved during Matteo Renzi's government, which protects companies from employees in the event of unfair dismissal.

In the other referendums, with the support of the country's largest union, the CGIL, the government seeks to repeal several labor regulations, such as the one stipulating that those hired after March 7, 2015, in companies with more than 15 employees should not be reinstated after unfair dismissal. Also being questioned is the elimination of the severance cap for workers unjustly dismissed in small businesses, as well as other regulations on the use of fixed-term contracts.

The results of an abrogative referendum, as in this case, are only valid if at least half of those eligible to vote participate, that is, if the so-called quorum is reached. However, in the latest survey, conducted by Demopolis, only 46% of respondents said they were aware of the referendums and only 30% confirmed they would vote.

This abstention has been encouraged by the government led by the far-right Giorgia Meloni. The Prime Minister declared that she will go to the polls, but that she will not collect her ballot, contributing to the failure to reach a quorum. "Not voting in a useless and flawed referendum is everyone's right," she argued. Neither the two vice presidents of the executive nor the leaders of the governing coalition parties, Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, will vote, which has sparked fierce protests from the opposition.

"It's a disgrace," lamented Elly Schlein, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, who expressed her willingness to vote in favor of the five issues put to the referendum, although the party is divided, since the issues related to labor rights were approved.